My Sanctuary
by Guifi
Summary: My fears, my lies, melt away... Sora takes a bit of Riku's advice on the subject of paopu fruit and Kairi.


**Title: My Sanctuary**

**Summary: My fears, my lies, melt away… Sora/Kairi**

**Genre: Romance**

**Type: Oneshot**

**Well hello there! If you are reading this, it means my title is somewhat functional and drew you in or I did an alright job on the summary OR you were just plain bored and didn't really care much what you were reading, even if it was crap.**

**This is my first piece of fan fiction on this account and for this fan base, so please, if there is anything at all that I can improve, TELL ME! That's what the grey button at the bottom is for. Telling me how I can improve my writing and help you enjoy my writing more.**

**That aside, please enjoy the below text!**

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**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS. If I did, I would be dead from pure excitement.**

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Rose red strands of silk caught the salty-sweet breeze from the vast spread of water before them, dancing in front of pools of blue that could have been liquid sapphires, all held together by cream-coloured satin that seemed almost flawless. Not that it would have mattered, had it been marred by any physical deformities. Kairi was beautiful, but that wasn't the only reason he felt dizzy just thinking about her.

What made him dizzy was that her beauty extended all the way down into the depths of her heart and soul, and if they could both be put into physical form, they would look just as beautiful as she did, even on the most casual of days. That inner magnificence was what made his head spin with a rush of emotions.

The third reason she made him momentarily mute half of the time was simply that she was there with him all the time. That she would choose to be his friend, and Riku's friend, when they both had their obvious flaws was almost inconceivable by him. After all, she was one of the seven Princesses of Heart. If she wanted to, she could go back to her original home of Radiant Garden and live in a palace with everything anyone could ever desire, but she hadn't done so yet, and the chances of her doing such a thing looked slim.

As he was thinking all these things and more, he found himself staring at her for what would have been an uncomfortably long time if she hadn't been Kairi. The redhead made everything uncomfortable comfortable, and turned fear into courage. Sora couldn't keep the truth from her, even if he wanted to. It was a good thing for the Keyblade master that she didn't ask many questions… or was it a good thing?

He was just glad that she was there to be his sanctuary.

Suddenly, as he thought this and almost as if she had heard that one thought, she turned her head from the watercolour of reds, pinks, and oranges before them to stare back at him. The boy was startled, the colours of his sun-tanned face changing to match those of the sky, and he recoiled slightly with his eyes open wide. The girl in the pink dress giggled at the reaction as she almost always did. The boy laughed, too, because it was hard not to laugh whenever Kairi laughed. The redhead was contagious.

She turned her head of rosy silk and creamy satin and liquid sapphires back towards the fiery sunset, smiling softly to herself with what seemed to be nostalgia. "Sora?" Her voice was filled with remembering.

"Yeah?" The reality of his own voice seemed to make the setting a little less surreal in his mind. Kairi seemed happy that he had spoken after so long a silence.

She leaned back on her hands a bit, swinging her legs above the water that pushed and pulled beneath the dock. "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to be sure of you," she replied, looking genuinely blissful in the glow of the disappearing sun. Sora grinned and leaned back on his hands, too, and felt a similar bliss that radiated from her being touch his heart and fill him with happiness.

_I could stay here forever_, he thought to himself, but that would be greedy to keep Kairi there too. He wouldn't want to stay forever if she weren't there with him.

Minutes later that felt like hours to the boy sitting next to her, Kairi once again spoke his name. "Sora?"

"Yes?" He didn't want to break the surrealistic feeling with his coarser language this time. Kairi noticed, and gave him a quizzical look.

"Why so serious an answer, Mr. Casual-Pants?" she asked with the same questioning face as before. Even as she joked with him, the scene still held its surrealism.

"I didn't want to ruin the moment," he replied with a content smile, still facing the calm ocean. Her expression, out of the corner of his eye, looked surprised, then happy.

"I'm glad that was a moment, then, and I didn't know it was. It makes it more special, don't you think?" she said, gazing back at the sea. Sora's smile widened.

"Yeah. It does." A pause occurred before he asked, "So, did you want to ask me something again, Your Highness?" The Keyblade master gave her a little half bow with a hand flourish thrown in for good measure. She giggled, and Sora grinned, knowing he could always make her laugh.

Kairi stopped her laughing and resumed her content, nostalgic look before asking, "Sora, do you remember right before everything we've ever been through started? We were sitting, right here, at the same time, and I told you to never, ever change?"

He remembered it too well. Sora had convinced himself that by the end of the month, he would give her a paopu fruit. It may have been just an urban legend, but with all his heart, he believed that it just might work. He nodded and said, "Yeah, I remember. I told you that I wouldn't ever change… did I keep my promise?"

The worried expression on his face made her laugh once more. "No… you broke that promise, Sora…" He looked horrified before she added, "But I'm glad you broke it."

He allowed what she said to sink in a moment before looking up at her and grinning. Suddenly he was on his feet and running off the dock towards the peninsula.

"Be right back!" he shouted over his shoulder to a confused Kairi. Within minutes he was back. One hand was behind his back so that she couldn't see what he had even as he bent over to catch his breath. He resumed his former position, but still kept the item hidden from her blue gaze.

"Kairi." He said her name as if wanting to say something, but not sure how to say it. Still looking in her eyes, he pulled out the item from behind his back. The yellow caught her eye as the sun truly began to fade from view below the horizon.

It was a paopu fruit.

"Sora, I-" She wished she knew what to say. His look was still serious, and still piercing her gaze, waiting for her to do something. She held her breath for a moment, before moving.

Kairi took the star-shaped fruit from him and broke it in half.

Handing him the other half, she smiled at him, took a bite out of the crunchy, tangy, sweet fruit, and leaned over to kiss him gently on the lips.

"I love you, too."

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End file.
